


A Bright Future

by VidalsQueen



Series: Leather & Lace: Romance Week 2018 [7]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Babies, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Love, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 08:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13783551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VidalsQueen/pseuds/VidalsQueen
Summary: Aloy decides to have Avad's baby.Leather & Lace: Romance Week, Day 7Trope: Soulmates





	A Bright Future

**Author's Note:**

> Again, I must thank fogsblue for the prompt. This idea wouldn't have come to me if it wasn't for her!! <3

It had been four years since Aloy had waltzed into Avad’s life. He could barely recall the days when she wasn’t there, but in his arms rested a small reminder of his past. The tiny swaddled bundle reminded him of the woman who had brought him and Aloy together. Mainly because she bore her name, Ersa Kadamia Elizabet. 

He stroked her tiny cheek and made cooing noises. She had just begun to smile and he couldn’t stop himself from attempting to earn one every chance he got. He was supposed to be putting her down for a nap. After months of sleepless nights, she was finally on a schedule. But when those green-gold eyes found his, looking so much like her mother’s, he couldn’t resist staring into them. It was still hard for him to believe this little bundle of joy was his, especially since she looked like a spitting image of Aloy. He couldn’t believe he actually had two of them in his life now. 

Little Ersa grinned and reached out her tiny hand to wrap it around his finger. 

“Yes, little princess, you may have those tiny fingers wrapped around mine, but I am eternally wrapped around yours. Just don’t tell your mother.” Avad kissed those tiny fingers, kissed her forehead, and rubbed his nose on her chubby little belly. 

The bedroom door opened and Avad knew he was in trouble. Aloy would not be pleased that he had kept the baby awake just to look at her, hold her a little longer. But it wasn’t Aloy.

“How’s our little girl?” Erend asked as he closed the distance between them. 

“She’s supposed to be napping, but how am I supposed to resist this sweet face?” 

Just then Ersa let out a squeal of delight. She always loved Erend’s voice and hearing it made her turn her head to look for him. When her eyes found him she smiled. 

“Isn’t that the truth?” Erend stroked her red hair, what little there was of it. 

“Hello, little sun-princess. Your momma won’t be happy if she returns and you aren’t sleeping, but I won’t tell if you don’t.” Erend was just as happy to have another little Aloy in his life, even if the baby wasn’t his. This co-parenting thing was working out well for him. He didn’t have to endure the sleepless nights and the constant needs of having a baby of his own. Yet he got to enjoy all of the wonderful aspects of being a father. Avad was better suited to the day-to-day care of little Ersa than him, Nil and Aloy combined. 

Between the four of them, none had seen the need for a wet-nurse. And Aloy would have had none of that anyway. She always ensured she was never gone for more than a few hours, but she maintained her constant need for adventure. Even after Ersa was born, she would do all she could to get back into shape. She returned to hunting, fought off bandits who came too close to Meridian and visited Gaia. Since the Nora’s Goddess had been repaired, there was now a remote location not too far from the palace. Erend still didn’t understand what Gaia was, even though Aloy had explained it many times and he’d been with her to see this new location. But Aloy had always had a better understanding of these things and he no longer questioned it.

“I had better put you to sleep before it’s momma coming through that door.” Avad stood and rocked Ersa gently in his arms.

 

“A few more corpses for the heap we’ve collected over the years.” Nil smiled as he took Aloy’s hand.

They had reached the palace and Nil still hadn’t gotten over his excitement to have another kill to his name. Aloy was grateful that the years hadn’t changed him. He had grown a little less restless since Ersa’s birth, but she could always see that itch start to creep up on him. While she had been pregnant and the few months following, they would get word of bandit camps and she would send her trusty Carja killer to dispatch them, usually with back-up that he protested greatly to, but she knew keeping him in the palace did him no good. 

“Yes, a few less scum to litter the Sundom.” She smiled, and he bent to place a kiss on her lips. 

“You understand me so well, Huntress.”

Aloy had to admit, she had always assumed that Nil would venture off on his own eventually, but for the first few years, he was her constant companion on the road. He had gone with her to help her restore Gaia. He began to run errands with her and found himself enjoying hunting machines, though he would always remind her it was a poor substitute for a human kill. But most of all, he seemed to enjoy her company. When she told him of her and Avad’s plan to get pregnant, he wasn’t happy, but not for the reasons she would have assumed. He had simply protested his loss of a hunting partner. He grew scarce in the palace for about a month but returned telling her it was no fun without her. 

She still didn’t know how she was so lucky to have three men who loved her as much as Avad, Erend, and Nil did. But she thanked the Goddess, the Sun, every chance she got. In the beginning, tensions had arisen, but they were few and settled without much fuss. But once they all realized she loved them equally, the jealousies and small squabbles died out. Even after telling Erend of her plans to get pregnant there was very little conflict. She remembered his initial reaction wasn’t quite what she was hoping for, but she explained that she wanted to give Avad and heir. Something to solidify his place on the throne. Both of them had risked much to keep him there, and this he understood. 

She recalled fondly the days when Erend and Avad would sit on either side of her, resting their hands, their heads on her swollen belly. The three of them so content and so in love. It was on one of those days that she took both of their hands and rested them on her belly and said the words, “If it’s a girl, can we name her Ersa?”

Erend had to choke back tears as he nodded fervently. But Avad only smiled and looked at his friend. “I think that would be perfect.” They had decided if it was a boy to name him Kadaman, after Avad’s brother, but it seemed that they all held out hope for a baby girl. Aloy knew it was silly. She had wanted to give Avad an heir and to have a girl would do no such thing, but changes were happening in the Sundom daily and who was to say they wouldn’t have a Sun-Queen by the time she came of age?

As Aloy and Nil neared to door to her and Avad’s bedroom, she paused, pulling Nil to a stop beside her. He started to protest but she lifted a finger to her lips telling him to be silent. 

Avad’s tender, musical voice drifted through the door. 

“Your quest has begun. My kingdom, you’ll run. I’ll love you forever, my sun. You are my arrow and I am your bow, guiding your shot on the journeys we’ll go. We’ll make lots of puns, no puzzles undone; I’ll love you forever, my sun.”

Aloy’s heart swelled at hearing his voice. She always loved it when Avad sang. His voice was so beautiful, so tender, so pure. She peeked around the corner and tears welled in her eyes. Avad stood with Ersa, rocking her gently in his arms. Erend stroked her cheek, smiling warmly. They were both lost to the little one in his arms. 

She wiped the tears from her eyes. Ersa should have been asleep by now, so she wanted to pretend she was angry, put out, to let them know they couldn’t give in to her while she was away. She crossed her arms over her chest, cocked her hips out and cleared her throat. 

Avad and Erend looked up, both with sheepish grins on their faces. 

“Busted,” Erend said, though he didn’t seem to care.

Nil strode in ahead of her. “Eke,” he exclaimed.

Aloy hated that. That noise coming from any other person, especially in regards to Ersa would drive her mad. How Nil had decided it was appropriate to give her a nickname that resulted in a squeaking noise, befuddled her. 

“Nil, Eke is not a name. Why can’t you just call her Ersa?” 

“Because of this.” He walked up to Avad and bent over her. “Eke,” he exclaimed again and Ersa giggled. 

Aloy couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face. This man was ridiculous. One moment he would be disgustingly macabre and the next he’d be pinning her down trying to tickle her or doing the one thing that would guarantee a laugh from a baby. She shook her head and sighed.

**Author's Note:**

> The lullaby is borrowed from King's Quest and the fun thing is, it is actually Josh Keaton (Avad's VA) singing. Though, I did change the word son to sun ;)
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID4A15wJDAA


End file.
